S.D. landowners continue fight against Dakota Access pipeline

The Andreessen property (pictured at top), located southwest of Tea along Hwy. 17, is one of the family farms in the area that could have an oil pipeline buried on its grounds if the S.D. Public Utilities Commission grants a construction permit to Dakota Access, LLC later this year.

Passerby on Highway 17 might mistake the plain wooden stakes topped with trailing neon ribbons as signs of celebration — a birthday party or family reunion, perhaps. But to the families who own the land, the stakes represent a threat to their farms’ beauty and prosperity. In this case, the threat isn’t borne by wind, water or beast, but by a proposed oil pipeline.

Though the exact route will remain preliminary until soil tests are complete, spokeswoman Vicki Granado said, the markers were placed as reference points for a proposed route for the Dakota Access, LLC pipeline that will shuttle between 450,000 and 570,000 barrels of crude oil along a 1,134-mile journey from the Bakken fields of North Dakota through eastern South Dakota and Iowa, ending up at a refinery in Illinois.

The pipeline will cross at least a dozen South Dakota counties, including Lincoln and Minnehaha. Two family farms are directly in the path of the pipeline section marked to pass under Highway 17 along the southwest edge of Tea.

Log in to the e-edition to read about locals' concerns and catch up on more local news. Copies of the Tea Weekly are also available at the Tea Sunshine, Cubby's, Casey's or Get N Go. Become a subscriber to get the paper delivered every week, plus free e-edition access!